Spectral line broadening mechanism of Er3+ transitions in Er:Ti:LiNbO3 channel waveguides

In order to elucidate the interaction effects among the various defects present in a LiNbO₃-based integrated optical device, we investigated the change of the optical properties of Er³⁺ ions under the application of an external electric field and hydrostatic pressure. We obtained for stoichiometric bulk material a complete picture of the field-induced spectral shifts as a function of transition and site. As a first important application of these results we were able to clarify the mechanism of spectral broadening of the Er³⁺ transitions in Ti:Er:LiNbO₃ channel waveguides. By selecting different waveguide modes for excitation and using highly selective double-resonance excitation with two lasers, we found that the [Ti⁴⁺] concentration gradient caused by the indiffusion results in an internal E-field gradient. This translates, due to the averaging within the guided mode, into mode-dependent spectral line broadening. Received: 24 May 2001 / Published online: 23 October 2001